Intro and question -- Arkabutla?

First -- Glad to be here. I can already see there is lots to learn here. Brief intro: From NW TN, my dad and I used to fish Reelfoot and KY Lake -- with little experience and limited success (more into hunting than fishing at the time). I left for school, and my parents moved for work reasons, and our fishing together ended. Fast forward a few years, we now both live outside of Memphis, have some time to fish, we're trying to get back into it and I'm really excited to be able to fish with my dad again -- but we're still rookies.

Second -- Though we didn't fish down this way, I always heard that Arkabutla had some great crappie fishing. So when we started looking at lakes, Butla is closest to us, so we though we would make that our home lake. Went there Monday morning -- beautiful day, very few people fishing. We didn't catch a fish and didn't see anyone else catch anything either. I saw a thread on here talking about Butla . . . what's the deal? Is it not what it used to be? Or was I getting misinformation when I heard good things about it years ago?

Welcome aboard. You can search on here for Butla--but basically due to the low water levels last year the lake was hit hard. It will be another year or so before it gets right again. if you're wanting to learn and catch---Sardis or Enid will be your best bet. Good luck--you will learn alot from this site for sure.

good advice from Kdavid

Was it just so low that the fish were condensed and got over fished? or did the low water affect the spawn?

It was some of both. Now with the high water this year--it should be really good later on

Both.
Some ramps were/are closed to low water. Small boats don't/didn't have problems with launching on the ones that were open. Larger trailers will run off the end of the slab. No problems launching, just when you wanted to get your boat back on the trailer.
Some members here can tell you about having to get out and push their boats off of bars.
Best bet now is Sardis, Enid or Grenada. Still keep a watch on low water conditions.

The low water last year during the summer was a big problem plus the fishing really turned on last fall when the water level rose from the low summer level. Word got out and the lake got really hammered in September and October...40 to 60 boats a day taking limits out of butla for about 5 weeks. Just too much pressure for such a small lake. It was a trophy lake and hopefully will return to what it was before last year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Southern Sportsman

Was it just so low that the fish were condensed and got over fished? or did the low water affect the spawn?

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Water was so low alot of them ended up in freezers, alot of them died, and alot of them got sucked on thru the gates. With that said there was supposedly a decent spawn. But, u want see the dividends of that until 3 years from now. On a positive note, the fish that are in there are extremely healthy. Butla has never been a numbers lake for me anyway. I think it's the best lake for quality but the hardest to catch fish. That lake will grow on u and its a fun place to spend a day. Don't give up on it.

There are a couple of other things also. During the low water level everything that was dry grew up with buck brush and weeds that were over head high. Then when lake came up in spring it went to flood stage. This gave the fish plenty of cover to go to and made it almost impossible to fish. Should have had a great spawn and the fish that were left were not molested at all cause hardly anyone has fished it all year. Agree with what Bird Down said about quality fishery. It is hard to fish but when you find them the are some of the biggest fish you will ever catch. I have fished it a couple of times this fall without much success but the fish I caught were quality fish and very healthy. This spring should bring some good fishing and a couple of years from now will be great. Like everyone else said right now best bet is Sardis or Enid. Good luck to you and glad you and your Pop can now fish together again.And welcome to the board. Tay on here and you will find out what's happening when and where. Ask questions, lots of great fishermen here that are more than willing to help you get on fish.

Like Bird down said. It can be a tough lake to limit out on but it has really good quality fish. You need to spend time on it learning the lake even if you don't catch fish every time. Sardis and Enid are your best bets right now. Welcome aboard! Butla is my home lake also!